TaylorWade For Success

Phil Taylor and James Wade will compete in Sunday's final for the World Matchplay title in Blackpool. The two had varying semi-final experiences and know they are now just one game away from victory.

Wade made it through after an extremely topsy-turvy match against Terry Jenkins. It was Jenkins who made the better start and found himself 4-1 then 5-2 ahead. Wade stemmed the tide a little by scoring a 164-checkout before Jenkins responded with a ton to make it 6-3. The game began to change from there as Wade stormed through to take six consecutive legs and lead 9-6. Within that sequence, the Machine took out 103 in leg-11, 127 in leg-13 and 107 in leg-14.

This time it was Jenkins to turn the game on its head at 11-9. Legs 16-20 were all taken by the Bull with the highlight being a 96-finish via double-18 double tops in leg-19. Wade would then take a 13-11 lead with two more ton plus checkouts, a 130 in leg-21 before a 144 in leg-23. But the game still wasn't done as Jenkins again fought back to level the match at 13-13.

The final six legs was a bit like Noah's Ark. Wade again took a two leg lead at 15-13 before a 40 and a 20 checkout from Jenkins once again levelled the score at 15-15. But Wade finally struck a vital blow, breaking the Jenkins throw in leg-31 after the Bull missed darts at the double. He then finally took out 12 to win the game 17-15.

Taylor had a much easier game in comparison against Ronnie Baxter, but the Blackpool boy did show signs of fight throughout. A 114 from Taylor in the opening was a warning of what was to come as the Power stormed into a 6-0 lead. Baxter avoided the whitewash before a 109-checkout in leg-eight helped Taylor move onto an 8-1 lead.

But then Baxter came to life at the end of the second and the beginning of the third session. The Rocket would win five legs on the spin to reduce the arrears to 8-6. Taylor then moved into a 10-6 lead before Baxter responded with a 110 finish. Three consecutive legs then moved Taylor to within four legs of victory.

Baxter's last highlight of the tournament came in leg-22 when he scored a 103-checkout to make the score 14-8. Baxter would then secure one more leg before a 118-finish from Taylor would classily win the match 17-9. Setting up another fantastic final with Wade.